Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
FORT WAYNE SOUTH SIDE AT WARSAW
Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Saturday at the Tiger Den
Coaches: Ryan Bond (FW South), Al Rhodes (Warsaw)
Records: South Side 4-7, Warsaw 9-4
Last game: FW North 53, FW South 52; Warsaw 69, Gary Wirt 45
Last year: Warsaw 45, FW South 44 (FW South Regional championship)
Matchup: Forget about this being a rematch of last year's one-point regional game. Same schools, but different teams. Eleven players graduated off of last year's South Side team. The Archers scored 1,579 points last year; nine points of that returned to this year's team. Keith Moore, who averaged 2.6 points per game over seven games, was the top returning scorer. Even the coach changed; Gregg Taylor retired and was replaced by 1993 South Side graduate/former player Ryan Bond. Moore, a 6-foot-3 junior leads this year's team with 12 points and six rebounds per game. Marty Kaiser adds seven points and five rebounds per game. Larry Bostic, a 5-6 junior guard, delivers eight assists and four steals per game. South Side starts three juniors and two sophomores. Warsaw returns only one starter, point guard Brad Seiss, from last year's team, but the Tigers have other current players like Josh Buck, Paul Finnegan and Trent Martin who played varsity last year. If Warsaw can get a lead on South Side, the Archers figure to be in trouble because with only one player in double figures, they aren't a team that can play catch-up.
Bond: "We're very quick, and the big men we have run the floor better than most big men. Keith Moore can step out and hit the three-pointer, and Larry Bostic is an incredibly quick point guard we hope we can use to our advantage against Warsaw. Warsaw's trapping and pressing on defense impress me. Normally Warsaw isn't as quick of a team as it is this year. Their big men press well, and that could cause us problems."
Rhodes: "Whatever is left there in terms of a revenge factor, I'm not sure, because they have all new people. This will be one of the quickest teams we play all year. They really move in their full-court press and half-court man-to-man. They are a team that's been up and down offensively."
